Disclaimer: I own none of the characters except Maximus

Chapter 6 Judgement Time: A Remedial Lesson with Judge Dredd?

Mega City 1

Nervous was not how Kairi felt, no she was absolutely terrified. She had travelled with Mickey to a another world, one which she had heard about but had never thought she would visit until she was much older and more experienced, Mega City One was often described as a meat grinder, a place where all the scum of the universe seemed to lurk, not just the Shadows and the demons but something darker, something terribly dark and evil.

She was being led by a brown skinned woman with short hair and dressed up like a high class military colonel, Kairi felt very out of place, she was getting strange looks from some of the Judges, at least she thought so since she couldn't actually see the top of their faces.

"Over here Kairi" said the Chief Judge pointing into what looked like an interview room, inside was a man wearing the typical Judge uniform, a red and gold helmet obscuring the top of his head, a black bullet proof jacket with black combat trousers and boots, with the emblem saying "Dredd" he looked over at Kairi and she immediately felt uncomfortable, just from seeing this guy she could tell he had been through some serious combat.

"Is this the girl?" he said in a gruff voice, judging by his tone Kairi could tell he was not impressed, "Yes, the King sent her to receive training in marksmanship so she can still fight if her and her partner are separated" the Chief Judge said.

"So basically your telling me that this girl is so useless she had to be trained to use a gun because she's too weak to fight of her own battles with just her physique" he said emotionlessly, Kairi couldn't help but be offended.

"Not everyone is the same as you Dredd, she need this training and I want you to oversee her examination, do whatever you want, chuck her in the deep end if you want" the Chief Judge said as she left the room.

"It's all a deep end" Dredd muttered as he stood up and gestured for Kairi to follow him, they walked in silence until Kairi decided to ask the obvious question "Ummm Sir where are we going?"

"We are going to the weapon's storage to get you a weapon for combat or how else did you expect to fight?" he said sarcastically, Kairi cringed, "God he probably thinks I'm really stupid or something" she thought to herself, they made their way into a room fuelled to the brim with guns and weapons of all kinds of shapes and sizes.

"Pick one" said Dredd as Kairi looked through all the weapons, she didn't have any idea what to pick, she had never fired a gun in her life and now she had to just pick one? Eventually she settled on a large eight chamber revolver which she liked the feel of "That is called the Broken Butterfly, It was used by one of the best fighters ever trained, Leon S Kennedy" said Dredd as she inspected the weapon.

She picked up as many bullets as she could before changing into the typical Judge outfit, as they started walking through the building to where the Judges kept their motorcycles "In the standard examination for marksmanship most students don't survive the first day, you may be expected to carry out on the spot executions of criminals not just demons, I will now list the ground rules of this examination, incorrect sentencing is an automatic fail, disobeying a direct order from a superior officer is an automatic fail, losing your primary weapon or having it taken from you is an automatic fail, you ready rookie?"

"Yes sir" she said with as much confidence as she could muster, Dredd nodded "Your assignment begins now" he said, Kairi couldn't help but gulp nervously; this was going to be a long training session.

KHROS

Ma-Ma lay in her bath, she was under the influence of Slo-Mo, it was a drug that the demons had given her when they had first showed up, it made the human brain think that time had slowed down to just one percent of its usual speed, she casually lifted her hand out of the bath and it seemed to go on for an eternity watching the water fly out and come back down.

"Ma" said her second in command Caleb, when she didn't respond he spoke up again "We got trouble"

Once she had dried and changed she stood next to Caleb with another one of her gang members Kay, kneeling in front of her covered in blood were three men "Found these three passing out some Slo-Mo to some demons that had resided on the Floor 26, they didn't do a good job of hiding themselves though" said Kay looking at her for a suggestion.

"The idea is whether or not to set an example to show that we run this joint, not the demons" said Caleb, Ma-Ma looked them over before saying "Skin em, throw them over the balcony" as she looked out into the city.

"Hit em with a little Slo Mo first, it'll make the ride feel a lot longer" suggested Kay, "Sure" said Ma-Ma grinning to herself as she heard the screams of agony as her gang went to work.

KHROS

"12 serious reported attacks, thefts, sexual assaults and murders every minute, 17000 per day we can respond to around six percent of these" said Dredd as they saddled up onto his motorcycle, since Kairi couldn't drive one she had to share with Dredd, she could tell he wasn't happy about this

"Which six percent?" she asked, he turned to her "Your call rookie, you tell me" she checked the map on the front of the bike, there was a triple murder in a place called Peach Trees, she reckoned that would be a good place to start, she did want to prove herself after all "Peach Trees, multiple homicides" she said, he nodded and spoke into the coms on his wrist "Control we'll take Peach Trees" he said before speeding off to the Mega- Block.

When they arrived Kairi couldn't help but stare in awe at the building, it was over five times the size of the castle in Radiant Garden, the tallest building on her world, Dredd moved on and she quickly followed her "Mega Block's house around seven hundred and fifty thousand people, this one Peach Tree's has the highest number of demon and Shadows cases in recent memory" said Dredd as they walked toward the building, Kairi felt even more unnerved, she had hoped that this place would have been rather quiet but she had to have picked the most dangerous place in the city, "I'm really not lucky" she thought to herself.

When they reached the entrance Dredd stopped and looked over at a tramp sitting against a wall, he turned to Kairi "Rookie, judgement?" he said nodding towards the tramp, Kairi wasn't exactly sure how to reply then she realised she was supposed to be acting as a Judge "Loitering, that's illegal right?" she said hoping that was the answer.

Dredd pointed to the piece of cardboard that was next to him "Homeless Junkie, will debase self for credits" it said, Kairi felt sick as Dredd pointed at him "Don't be here when we get back" he threatened before moving on.

There was a huge crowd of people in the centre of the building, as soon as they started walking in Kairi and Dredd starting getting fierce looks from some people, men with pointy ears and yellow eyes, as Kairi got closer she realised there were three covered bodies lying on the floor, they had clearly fallen from a great height. "What have you got?" asked Dredd speaking to what Kairi assumed was a paramedic.

"Three guys and there in some fucked up condition" said the paramedic as Dredd lifted up one of the blankets to reveal a man whose skin had been cut off, the back of his head had cracked open leaving brain matter spilt all over the floor, Kairi resisted the urge to puke. "You based in Peach Trees?" said Dredd as he inspected another body.

"Yeah medical centre, level 24" said the paramedic, Dredd pointed to two of the bodies "They stationed here?" , the paramedic nodded and Dredd looked over at the other one "And him?", the paramedic shook his head "No he's from another district, I'm gonna have to check his blood if I could figure out what is his"

Dredd lifted the cloth and checked the man's teeth "What do make of this rookie", Kairi didn't know what to say, "I don't know" she said truthfully, he looked back up "It's a mark from a Slo-Mo inhaler" he said looking up at the top of the building, "Slo-Mo?" she asked the paramedic , "Only just hit the grid, but its making a lot of dough, it makes the brain feel as if its travelling at one percent of its usual speed, must have been a long way down"

Kairi began looking over the bodies, "Sir, I think this was a revenge killing, they were put on display as a warning", Dredd seemed to agree "But whom for? Demons or Humans?"

"Both, don't fuck with the Ma-Ma clan" said the paramedic, Dredd looked over at him "Ma-Ma clan?" he said confused, the paramedic motioned for them to follow, they made their way up to the medical centre, he booted up a computer and brought up a picture of a gruff, scowling and fierce looking woman, "Madeline Madrigal aka Ma-Ma, ex-hooker from the S9 pleasure district, quit working when she got sliced up by a pimp, rumour has it she got back him and feminised him with her teeth, took over his business and never looked back"

"With anyone else you'd be saying I was bullshitting, but not with Ma-Ma, her trademarks violence, guess that why the demons decided to leave her in charge of this place", Dredd turned to him "There are demons here?", the paramedic nodded and brought a security file, "This was recorded a few days ago, an entire family got cut up by something fucked up, this is what we were able to catch" it showed a black blur with yellow eyes, even in the poor quality Kairi could tell what it was "Neoshadow" she said, Dredd nodded "Anything else?" the paramedic looked around before speaking quietly "We've also been having numerous visitors from around this sector, there a rumour floating around that their part of this big group of powerful ass demons, the ones who made the Shadows in the first place and just the other day something huge got brought in and placed at the top of the building"

"How'd they get away with it?" asked Kairi, the paramedic raised his eyebrows "You know how often we get a Judge up here in Peach Trees?" , Dredd checked the map of the building "Well you've got one now" he said going through each floor "The victims are registered on level 39, likely killed over turf issue, Rookie?"

Kairi nodded, she could see where this was going, "Find out where the clan operate and hit them hard?", Dredd nodded.

As they left the medical centre, Kairi decided to ask Dredd a question "Sir, why are we focusing on this drug gang when we should be focusing on the Shadows and Demons in this building?", Dredd gave her what she could only assume was a glare before saying "Simple, we Judges take care or criminals and scumbags who think they can betray the law, you and your academy are the ones that handle the monsters, we only agreed to assist your academy because those monsters are interfering with our own affairs"

KHROS

Two young men quietly approached one of the many rooms on level 39, one of them knocked on the door and after some confirmation from Kay were let in, Kay handed him a Slo-Mo inhaler and they both sat down on a nearby sofa, excited to try the new drug everyone on the block had been talking about, they inhaled and quickly became mesmerised on how slow everything felt, it was like a dream.

Outside Dredd and Kairi armed their weapons, due to the loud music in the room nobody could hear them, "I take it this is your first time in non-sim combat?", Kairi nodded, she had never fired a gun outside of the simulation training she had received before she had went to Mega City, "You ready" asked Dredd, Kairi was shaking but nodded "Yes sir" she said nervously, Dredd seemed to read her like a book "You don't look ready", Kairi tried to calm herself "It's just adrenaline sir"

Dredd pulled out a grenade and placed it against the door, they both took cover as the grenade exploded blasting the door open, from inside it went by in slow motion nobody could react quickly enough as Dredd entered the building firing rapidly, bullets tore through a man's face ripping it to shreds, Kairi fired into someone's stomach, the bullet tore right through them.

Nobody else could move as Dredd and Kairi ordered everybody to the ground, "Rookie, Judgement" said Dredd pointing his gun to everyone, "Possession of narcotics and attempted murder of a Judge" she said trying to sound as professional as possible, "No don't tell me, tell control" said Dredd, Kairi felt incredibly stupid "Control, this is Kairi, requesting meat baggage for level 39, we have four bodies for recyce and eight lively isocubes" she said remembering everything she had been taught.

"All right let's get em cuffed" said Dredd after Control had confirmed Kairi's report, they rounded up all the people in the room, cuffing them and having them kneeling down on the ground, as Kairi was cuffing one of the men she noticed a familiar looking tattoo, "Sir, he's a member of the Ma-Ma clan" Dredd looked up and moved over to him "Well that certainly makes things interesting, we'll take him with us, let's see how he handles a couple hours of interaction"

KHROS

The Ma-Ma clan's technician was busy playing around with loose wires when he looked up and noticed what had being going on, on level thirty nine "Oh shit" he said as he saw Kay being dragged away by a Judge and what looked like a member of the DW academy "Ehh Caleb I've gotta situation on level thirty nine"

"A Judge and one of those academy members took out some of the boys on level thirty nine" said Caleb to Ma-Ma as they made their way to the tech office "So what, the Judges showing their faces just reminds the people that they exist"

"Yeah well they got Kay" said Caleb, Ma-Ma's face fell "Fuck" she said simply, "If he gets brought into interaction will he talk?" he asked, she looked sour "Of course he will, but do you know what those demons will do to us if that academy get a word of what they've stored here, they'll skin us alive"

"Yeah you bet we will" said a calm voice casing them both to turn round in surprise, standing there was a tall devil like creature with three red eyes, a purple helmet that covered the top of his head, short blonde hair, dressed in a black biker outfit with a long metal tail, his hands ended in sharp talons and there were two sawed off shotguns holstered on his legs "I was thinking you humans had everything under control but clearly that isn't the case, I want that Judge and that Academy member dead now" he said stepping towards them.

"Fine" Ma-Ma spat, "I'll have to shorten the time we were gonna use to keep our little pet under roofs now so just make sure those two don't discover it or you'll all fucked" he said before moving up to the top level.

"Fucking demon" said Ma-Ma, she made her way to the com room instructing Caleb to take over the buildings control room, once he had secured it the tech initiated the war protocol on the building.

Dredd and Kairi had reached the exit and were just about to leave, Dredd spotted the tramp who hadn't moved "Warned you, get up your heading for the cubes" the room suddenly went dark and the blast down came down right on top of him, Kairi could only look in horror as blood seeped out from underneath the door, the building blast doors all came down shutting them off from the outside world.

Then a voice spoke in over the speakers "Peach Tree's, this is Ma-Ma somewhere in this building are a Judge and a DW academy member, I want em dead, until I get what I want the block is locked down, I'll clan every level not the Judges town, if I see anyone assisting them I will kill them there next generation of family, stay inside and stay the fuck out of our way until the shooting stops, as for the Judges sit tight or run, doesn't matter to me your mine"

"We'd better move" said Dredd.

A/N So there's part one of the Dredd world, how will Kairi and Dredd stop Ma-Ma and that mysterious demon, what is it they have hiding at the top of the building?

Find out in Chapter 6: Slo-Mo: The Mad Motherfucker Reveals Himself?

As usual R and R and all that shite, anyways cheers and take care